Favorites ascending. Photo: Gruber Images.
As many of you know, I write a monthly column for Cyclist Magazine where I answer Dear Abby-esque questions, and the most recent query pertained to whether I consider the Tour the best race of the year, or whether it’s an over-publicized circus. The question made me realize something about myself: I have a weariness around the Tour de France not unlike a romantic whose heart has been broken one too many times.
The fact is, as much as I prefer a race like Paris-Roubaix or the Giro d’Italia to the mid-summer shit show that is the Tour de France, nothing gets my anticipation going quite the way the Tour does, which is undeniably the pinnacle of the season; all the classifications and stages are prestigious enough that racers of all sorts are all arriving at the start in peak form. There is a promise of hard racing from day one, but the first week consists mostly of me worrying about the big favorites crashing out. As soon as we get through that mess, my heart is usually broken on the first day in the mountains, when the favorite takes a decisive lead and the rest of the race is most about stages than the GC.
At least, these are the dreads of a man who lived through the Indurain and Armstrong eras of racing.
Nevertheless, the Tour always manages to seduce me, and this year is no different. Maybe this year, she won’t be such a cruel lover. And, maybe this year, I won’t make horrible picks in the VSP. Just maybe, just maybe. You know the drill; get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero, and you get some swap options on the rest day. Good luck!
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@Teocalli
i'd take it! at the rate i'm going, a pint of brains would be a welcome addition
Elia Viviani to Quick Step, and Kittel to Katusha!
@Cary
Here we go. I don't drink in the week so I've had to wait until today to toast my first solo win on the bike.
Won a cat 3/4 crit, and will celebrate with some fine St Peters ale.
@RobSandy
awesome and congrats on the result! a solo win in a criterium is a helluva thing indeed.
i am completely ignorant to most of the ales referenced in the Drink Properly discussion. the vast majority simply never make it across the ocean, or do in such limited numbers as to make them very difficult to obtain.
maybe i need to do a beer tour of europe.. lol
@Cary
Cheers. It feels like my first win of any kind, but I've won a team sprint on the track.
I've had a win in me for a couple of seasons, but Wednesday was the first time it all came together - one of my team mates laid down the V repeatedly throughout the race, stringing out the bunch, and I kept myself near the front, following the right wheels and then attacked hard/opened up my sprint with 1/2 a lap to go and no one could come around.
2 races left in the season, I'll see if I can score one more win (I've also got some team mates to pay back!)
@Cary
Makes sense for Marcel to go to Katusha: best hair in the peloton to a team sponsored by Alpecin shampoo. Tony Martin's no slouch in the hair stakes either. Alas, Froome is unlikely to be on Katusha-Alpecin's wish list . . .